TdeF 2017

[Mr Larrington]

Interesting.  I was poking around letour.fr earlier and couldn't find any mention of any penalties at all.  Move along.  Nothing to see here.  Positively no black helicopters.  Not in the public interest.  National security ["Cont. p94 of 'Hansard'" - Ed.]

[T42]

Our parrot has started saying "w00t", with a mildly interrogative lift.

Meanwhile, what's with the nose ring?

A nasal dilator called Turbine

Link - may contain traces of woo

https://www.theturbine.com

It'd contain traces of more than woo at the end of the day.

Interesting.  I was poking around letour.fr earlier and couldn't find any mention of any penalties at all.  Move along.  Nothing to see here.  Positively no black helicopters.  Not in the public interest.  National security ["Cont. p94 of 'Hansard'" - Ed.]

It'll all come out when the urine samples are tested in 2030.

BTW letour.fr's search engine is rubbish. Search for "abandons" and you get a bunch of hits from 2016, yet the 2017 page is here: http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2017/fr/abandons.html

[PeteB99]

Interesting.  I was poking around letour.fr earlier and couldn't find any mention of any penalties at all.  Move along.  Nothing to see here.  Positively no black helicopters.  Not in the public interest.  National security ["Cont. p94 of 'Hansard'" - Ed.]

Penalties for Uran and Bennett are still on LeTours Stage 12 results page.

I think I heard Mr Boardman saying last night that penalties are added to the riders overall time but not to the stage time so stage classification is unaffected 

[Riggers]

A chum (who's there) posting on Instagram of the 'finish' said people were booing Froome and journalists were laughing at him, struggling right at the very last. Quite shameful really.

[fd3]

I don't agree with booing Froome. 

Would we all cheer if an Italian, French or Belgian team spent ten times as much the other teams and won by basically buying the victory?  Coz that's how Sky are viewed by non-Brits.

[trekker12]

I don't agree with them booing either. It's better than throwing urine though which has precedent.

I felt Sky lost that. They had at least three riders with Froome all the way to that final climb. They had the tactical advantage. Hindsight is great but I've never seen Froome accelerate in the way Auru can, Contador could etc. He grinds up the mountains at a pace no one can match but he is nearly always on the back wheel when the first attack goes and he claws it back and rides past.

The steep uphill yesterday therefore immediately had him on the back wheel. With the strength in numbers they had they needed to drop that group over the previous summit to allow a buffer up the really steep finish which does not suit Froome's climbing style.

It might have been a bad day and I know he's nearly won up there before but in 2012 he and Wiggins went much earlier (Valverde went even earlier) and the race was much more splintered.

I've often wondered abut Sky's tactical ability, no matter how much you pay the riders.

[fd3]

Penalties for Uran and Bennett are still on LeTours Stage 12 results page.

Cyclingweekly is running the time penalty reversal story.  Bad decision for me, time penalty is clear in this cse and it is also clear that Bardet should not be penalised as he is the best placed Frenchman.  When you guys get your own worthwhile national tour you can bend the rules too.


(It makes no difference, Bardet needs 2-3 mins on Froome to win the overall, it won't happen this year).

[TigaSefi]

I watched the replay early this morning on Eurosport and I was thinking "bloody well attack ya twat!" He had two of the strongest domestiques. Should have splintered the group with 1-1.5km to go!

*that steep bit is a ROAD! haha...

[Riggers]

Mind you, after 214km I think I'd I've been pushing my bike up the last really steep bit. I know they are made from different material to us, but I'd still want every drug available, to keep me going day after day, cycling like that.

[citoyen]

Mind you, after 214km I think I'd I've been pushing my bike up the last really steep bit. I know they are made from different material to us, but I'd still want every drug available, to keep me going day after day, cycling like that.

Personally, I would have stopped at the pancake place at the top of the Peyresourde and not bothered with the last bit to Peyragudes.

[mzjo]

I'm not sure that having a well-drilled team is all you need.

You are right. He needs a mystery package.

Meublé Sky should consider retaining Vino as an adviser (totally independant of course, he couldn't be on the staff!). I am sure he could say what should be in a secret package.

[woollypigs]

Mystery package, erm?!? Sorry I don't see that on sky's website. I see sky sports, sky sports, sky Atlantic and sky plus but no sky mystery

[T42]

I watched the replay early this morning on Eurosport and I was thinking "bloody well attack ya twat!" He had two of the strongest domestiques. Should have splintered the group with 1-1.5km to go!

*that steep bit is a ROAD! haha...

Maybe he didn't attack because he didn't feel as if he had the oomph.  The French verdict was "c'est l'age...".

[mattc]

On a steep enough road, teammates are no help.

(Still useful to have around for stuff like bike failures, and general "minding" duties.)

[T42]

Vichot in trouble.

[Hot Flatus]

If you watch closely its obvious what happened. Landa was looking like he wasn't trying whilstputting the pain on everyone else, whereas Froome even asked him to slow down.

Accidental swapping of jiffy bags. Simples.

Im really pleased. It'll make for a far more dynamic race over the next week.  I know there will be a few upset at the thought of Sky losing, especially Veloman who seems to have a boner for Froome.

[citoyen]

If you watch closely its obvious what happened. Landa was looking like he wasn't trying whilstputting the pain on everyone else, whereas Froome even asked him to slow down.

Everyone who did the Giro appears to be struggling to keep up in the Tour... except Landa.

[DuncanM]

I don't agree with booing Froome. 

Would we all cheer if an Italian, French or Belgian team spent ten times as much the other teams and won by basically buying the victory?  Coz that's how Sky are viewed by non-Brits.

Then they aren't paying attention. Last year's budgets from L'Equipe:
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/tour-de-france-team-largest-budget-262275
The only teams in the race they will have a 10x budget advantage will be the 2nd division teams.

[Mr Larrington]

J Birdsong appears to be having a very bad day too.

[T42]

Bird has fugled off out of it.

[Veloman]

If you watch closely its obvious what happened. Landa was looking like he wasn't trying whilstputting the pain on everyone else, whereas Froome even asked him to slow down.

Accidental swapping of jiffy bags. Simples.

Im really pleased. It'll make for a far more dynamic race over the next week.  I know there will be a few upset at the thought of Sky losing, especially Veloman who seems to have a boner for Froome.

Yawn, yawn Flatus and perhaps the posting says more about you than me.

I don't see Sky losing as what I'm currently watching just shows how strong Sky are and how they have more than one rider with GC options in their team. All the pressure on Aru or Landa in yellow jumper and Sky get another trophy for the front of the bus.

[T42]

Kiwi fading.

[TigaSefi]

I'm missing one hell of a race here aren't I stuck at work! time for highlights tonight!

[Mr Larrington]

Yay and, moreover, w00t ~ Bethany (7), just now

[T42]

@Bethany (7):   On 14th July and all.